


Limited Engagement

by ambiguously



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Bucket List, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26437705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: The "Treasures of the British Museum" exhibit is only scheduled to stay in New York for three months. Jed and Octavius decide to make the most of their remaining time.
Relationships: Jedediah/Octavius (Night at the Museum)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 77
Collections: Fic In A Box





	1. The First Night of the Rest of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peasina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peasina/gifts).



Gigantor offered to help them both back into their dioramas, but Jedediah waved him off. With a nod full of understanding, the big man lumbered off to say his fare thee wells to the rest of their friends. When morning came, they'd either be frozen forever, or dusted. Jed wondered about that. Get caught out of the museum in the morning, and you were a goner. The tablet was in a different museum now, and they were well and indeed outside of that one. They'd been aboard the airplane fleeing the break of day when dawn came in London. They hadn't gone to pieces then. Jed hoped that meant they'd be fine now. Stuck as plastic, or wax, or fur stuffed with sawdust, nothing more or less than educational pieces on display until the end of time, but fine.

"Sunrise is coming," Octavius said, as if he needed to. Jed felt the pull of the sun inside him like they all did. Night ended, the magic ended, and the tablet was staying in London with ol' Akhmenrah and his folks. During the flight back, pressed right up against his favorite Roman in Gigantor's carry-on, Jed had tried and failed to scratch up some bitterness about that. He couldn't begrudge their favorite mummy getting a chance to spend the afterlife with his parents. Jedediah had never even had parents.

"Do you remember the factory?" Jed asked Octavius, making no move towards the eerily quiet windows where they would spend the rest of time.

"Barely. I remember the mold. I remember a moment of becoming myself, then nothing until I was unboxed here."

"Yeah." Consciousness hadn't been one of Jed's problems until sundown that first night. All the plastic figures had arrived together. Mayhap they'd even been molded together. "Now there's a funny thought. One drip of plastic different, and you could've been a cowpoke."

"Or you a noble Roman soldier, firm and loyal at my side."

Neither of them had moved. At this rate, the sun would be up before they could climb into their boxes. It wouldn't be the first time they'd have been caught outside their displays, but Jed's heart ached a bit knowing it would be the last. "I'm by your side now, mi amigo."

"As it should be." Octavius took his hand, no permission asked this time. "I will miss you, Jedediah. More than I can say."

"I'll always be right next door."

"I will always wish you were closer." Octavius got like this sometimes, his face open and full of longing. Jed brushed it off every time. They were plastic men, created to educate little varmints about history. It wasn't their place in the world to fancy themselves like the romantic heroes in one of those movies Gigantor pulled up for them on the Net Flick. They didn't have parents, and they didn't have sweethearts.

And as it turned out, the creeping presence of the sun chasing them down said they didn't have time, either.

Jed bent close and pressed his mouth against his best friend's lips. In less than a minute, they'd both be plastic but for these precious seconds, Octavius was warm and soft against him, his hands clutching to Jed like a drowning man who'd found his dry land, and he tasted like clover honey. 

Octavius's eyes were bright as he pulled away, knowing they didn't dare risk staying locked together forever after through the days to come. Jed tried to pull up a line from one of those romantic-type movies, something that said everything he'd always put off saying.

Before he could find the right words, the sun rose.

* * *

Three Years Later

* * *

Jed felt himself come awake with the full-body tingle of magic, which confused him since he had gone to sleep positive he was never going to come alive again. "Woohoo!" he shouted, slapping the backs of the three people next to him. From the diorama next door, he heard celebratory shouts.

The events of last night came back to him, along with the awareness that last night had been a lot longer than twelve hours ago. Had anything changed? Had the museum been redesigned?

Had the Ancient Rome display been taken away?

Jed slapped a fake smile on his face to cover the worry and moseyed over to the corner of the display case, ignoring his buddies in this one. Over the years, he'd perfected a nice lasso-and-pull motion to swing himself from his box into the box next door. He grasped his rope, telling himself there was nothing to worry about, things were fine, nothing had changed. He'd swing over there, and his pal would be his normal, kinda stodgy, kinda earnest self, and they'd be back to how things were, and never mind that Jed fancied he could still taste a lingering trace of clover honey in his mouth.

The music started up, blasting over the museum's speakers.

"I say," said a voice from the distant floor. "Are you going to stay in there all night?"

Jed peeked over the edge. The Romans had already thrown their ropes over the edge and were climbing down in a steady line of red capes and flashy armor. Octavius stood underneath the Western Expansion window, hands propped against his face to shout. 

"Just getting myself presentable," Jed said. "Hold on." He waved to the others. "We're missing the shindig. Hurry up!"

The party was in full swing by the time the miniatures reached the entrance hall. Jed saw the banners overhead announcing the Treasures of the British Museum were here on loan. Akhmenrah, looking not a day over four thousand, bent down as soon as they came in. "Welcome back, my friends." Jed was so plum pleased to see him that he didn't mind the lift up to the turntable. He minded even less when Ahkmenrah plunked Octavius down beside him.

They ought to talk.

The music kicked back in, and Jed dropped that idea. He was alive again, and it was time to celebrate. Octavius caught his eye and started dancing with him. In the rest of the hall, the others were partying their hearts out, determined to live tonight like it was their last night on Earth, and it just might be.

Hours later, and his legs just about worn out, Jed sat by Ahkmenrah and Octavius, waving as Teddy and Sacagawea rode by. He leaned back, looking up at Ahk, "So how is it that you're back anyhow?"

"You saw the banners. The British Museum has started a traveling exhibition. Tilly arranged for the Tablet to travel with us."

"It is wonderful that you have returned home at last." Octavius leaned against Ahk's forearm.

"For a while. We're only in New York on a limited engagement, I'm afraid. In a few months, we'll be moving to the next museum."

Jed shivered. "You're leaving?"

"Cleveland beckons. And Chicago. St. Louis. City after city ahead of us." He gave Jed an amused look. "I believe we're scheduled to go to Dallas next year."

"You're going to Texas?" Jed had never set foot in Texas. He'd been molded in a plant in Taiwan and shipped directly to New York. His diorama was set in Colorado. But in his heart, he was a Texan. "And you're leaving us here."

"I wish we could stay. But the Tablet travels with my display, and although Tilly has been helpful in influencing where our entourage will go, ultimately none of us has any say in our fate."

"How long?" Octavius asked.

"We'll be on display here for three months."

Three months of living. It didn't sound like much, considering the decades they'd had. The old night guards had always locked them up in their displays and never let them out. Only when Gigantor had taken over had things turned fun around here. Ol' Doc McPhee was grinning something fierce and seemed to be having fun himself, not like someone who intended to lock them all up every darn night. Three months to enjoy themselves, then back into the box forever.

He grabbed Octavius by the hand. "C'mon, partner. We got some dancing to do."

High up with the turntable, they had a great look at the rest of the partygoers, even though a lot of them had dispersed to their own areas. A night alive wasn't something to be squandered.

"I should see to my men," Octavius said. "They should know the terms of our parole."

Jed leaned his head over, seeing about fifty Romans busy line-dancing. "Nah, let them be. We got three months."

"We do." This drew his attention back to Jed. "Last night, I thought we were facing oblivion."

"It wasn't really last night."

"No, and it nearly was oblivion." He stopped dancing. "We should talk about what happened."

Jed danced harder, gyrating in a way that he reckoned made himself look a bit silly and he didn't care. "Nothing to talk about. We thought we were going to die. We didn't. Nothing else to say."

"You kissed me."

Jed had just known he would bring that up. "What a man does when he thinks he's about to get dusted is no one's business but his."

"You made it my business." Octavius got that stubborn expression on his face that was always so darn annoying, when he didn't want to let something go.

"Look here. We can spend the next three months jawing about what may or may not have happened a few seconds before dawn three years ago, or we can spend them enjoying ourselves. I know which plan I like." He kicked the volume lever with his boot, sending the music level spiking.

Octavius said something, but he was drowned out by the bass, and Jed didn't even play the 'I can't hear you' game. After a while, Octavius started dancing again, but his face was stuck in an unhappy expression Jed didn't like, and tried not to look at.

* * *

By the next evening, everything was back to normal. Sure, there were some extra folks around who hadn't been there before. Tilly was too busy with Laaa to care much about what the rest of them got up to, and Jed had missed his cat videos. "Come on, Octodaddy," he said to Octavius, trying to remember how to activate the YouTube. "We haven't updated Facebook in years."

"You need Tilly's password," Teddy said. They glanced over at her. "Fortunately, I remember Lawrence's password." He typed it into the keyboard for Jed, who thanked him before hollering down at Octavius.

"You coming?"

His Roman buddy didn't even look at him. He'd made his way across the long hall to where Lancelot stood, keeping vigil over the Moai.

"Your loss," Jed said, and shoved the mouse around looking for his old bookmarks, which were gone. He considered the effort involved in looking them up again, tried jumping on some keys to search, and gave the effort up as hopeless. Maybe if Octavius could talk his boys into setting up The Apparatus. Octavius didn't seem inclined to do Jed any favors right now. In fact, he was chatting with Lancelot, who took out his sword as Jed watched, and showed Octavius its full, shining length. Octavius drew his own sword and displayed it proudly for Lancelot's perusal.

Jed found he didn't like that at all, nor the way Octavius stared up into the big man's eyes. Well.

He went back to the keyboard and grabbed a pencil with bad grace, using the eraser to stab the keys. He didn't need some stuck up sword-fancier to watch his cat videos with him. He didn't need anybody.

* * *

His resolution lasted two nights, fifty-three cat videos, and twice through the entire CD collection left behind in the guards' break room. Towards the late end of the night, spending one too many times glancing out to see Octavius practicing his maneuvers with his men, or worse, with Lancelot, Jed decided he'd had enough. He closed his window with a practiced click and shimmied down to the floor. He wandered, in no hurry at all, over to where the gigantic knight and the normal-sized Roman stood side by side going through their moves together.

Octavius ignored him. Lancelot made a joke that wasn't funny at all, and Octavius laughed like he was going to bust a gut. Jed felt his eyes narrow, then with a manly effort, he rubbed the expression off his face. "That ain't nothing," he said.

"Ah, greetings, small blue man," said Lancelot. "Do you also wish to learn the art of swordplay?"

"Play with your own sword, you giant poser."

Lancelot frowned. "I am not posing, thanks to the power of the magical tablet."

Jedediah rolled his eyes. His three months were dwindling away, and he wasn't going to spend them arguing with a man prancing around inside a tin can. "We gotta talk, mi compadre."

Octavius fixed him with a haughty stare like he had in the bad old days back when they'd fought all the time. "You have already stated we have nothing to talk about."

Jed glanced over at Lancelot, who did not take the hint to leave. Jed tilted his head, indicating the rest of the museum.

"What is that?" Lancelot asked, mimicking the gesture in large reply. "Are you all right?" Jed gestured again. "Something wrong with your tiny little neck?"

Jed tilted his head hard one more time. "It's a hint, you greenhorn. You get along now."

"Green horn?" asked Lancelot, making the neck gesture again as he rubbed his forehead. "I don't have any horn, green or other colors." He ran his fingers through his own hair, checking for points.

"It means scat. Vamoose. Depart. Go." He turned back to Octavius. "I want to talk about it."

Suddenly his world was tilted as Lancelot manhandled him into the air, holding him by the shirt and bringing Jed right to his face. Up close, Jed could see the repair job on his nose, and every fleck of color in his eyes. He didn't know what Octavius had seen in those eyes because right now, he only saw confusion turning to irritation.

"Stop manhandling me!"

Lancelot grinned a big, somewhat mean grin, and shook Jed back and forth. "You are a curious little man."

"Set him down," Octavius said from the floor. "He doesn't like being manhandled."

Lancelot spared a look down. "He's very unpleasant. Do you think I could flick him all the way across the entry hall?" He held Jed with one gauntleted hand, and brought the other close, center finger primed and ready to strike.

"Don't you flick me! Don't you dare!"

"Lancelot, this has gone far enough."

"What's that? You don't think I can flick him far enough?" He closed his hand, smothering Jed, and pulled back. "How about if I throw him?" He laughed. Jed didn't think this was funny at all. "I'm just joking with you," said Lancelot, bringing his arm back around in front of him and opening his palm. "No need to ---"

From far below, Jed heard Octavius let out his war cry, and didn't have to wait at all before the rest of the Roman army followed suit. "Free the cowboy!" shouted Octavius, and he attacked Lancelot's foot. They were quickly surrounded by Romans with their own swords. Lancelot gave Jed a look. Jed grinned back.

Carefully, so as not to antagonize the warriors further, Lancelot gently set Jed back on his feet. Jed straightened his clothes before walking away with a swagger. He went to Octavius. "Thank you."

"You were in danger. Of course I came to your rescue."

"You didn't really rescue me. I could've handled him."

Octavius gave him a flat look as he called up, "Lancelot, Jedediah has changed his ---" Jed grabbed his arm, shushing him, and for his efforts see the gleam of high amusement in his eyes. Lancelot's eyes might have been a little scary up close, but Jed had often noticed how nice his best buddy's peepers were when he smiled.

"Now can we go talk?"

"No," said Octavius. "Now we can go somewhere and you can apologize. Then I'll decide if we can talk."

That almost did it. Jed almost stomped off in a huff again. But he stopped himself. He threw out his arm and pointed toward the hallway down by the restrooms. Octavius walked that way, and Jed followed, muttering quietly to himself about lousy Romans and their lousy apologies and lousy knights in lousy shining armor. They reached their favorite potted plant, the one that always reminded Jed of warm nights drinking funny little drinks under palm trees like they did in the Net Flick movies. Out of sight of their friends and also Lancelot, Octavius turned around and folded his arms expectantly.

"Well?"

"'m sorry."

"I didn't hear you."

"Too bad. You're not hearing it again."

"I see." Octavius turned to walk back towards his troops. Jed stopped him with a firm hold on his arm. Octavius looked down at where Jed touched him. "Remove your hand."

"You wanted to hold my hand a few nights ago."

"Years."

"Nights, years, it ain't like we noticed. During the day, I just go away somewhere. I went away for a long time and I didn't even know I was gone, but the part of me that was still me knew you weren't there, and that was the worst part." He stopped talking. None of them were good at the words describing what happened to them, either from the magic of the tablet, or during the day when the magic ended.

"Do you recall when Larry used to ask us what we dreamed about?"

Jed snort-laughed. "Sure. He tried to convince us giant humans like him just close their eyes and get videos flashing in front of them all night long. That was funny as heck."

"I dream about you." He saw the confusion all over Jedediah's face. "Not like he said, with the pictures, giant shoes chasing you, argh," he mimicked Larry's recount of his own dreams. "The part of me that stays me thinks about you. Three years, and I thought about that last night we had together, and we woke up, and you said it meant nothing."

"I did not. I said I didn't want to talk about it." Jed made a face. "Maybe if I was like Gigantor and all educated at a fancy community college like him, I could find good words to put around things, but I can't. I just mess up. I don't want to talk."

Octavius placed his hand over where Jed held him, and Jed figured he was going to peel his fingers away and stalk back over to his new buddy with the magnetic eyeballs. Instead, he leaned over and kissed him. Jed felt himself go stiff. This was only going to lead to trouble. Then he melted into the touch, and it turned out, with a little more forewarning than the last few seconds before dawn, Octavius was actually a pretty good kisser.

"If you insist on not talking," Octavius said, "I'm sure we can find a workaround."

"Yep," Jed said, as words failed him again. And since he liked this new form of communication so much, he tried it on for himself, tugging Octavius closer. Sunup found them out, unaware of anything much, including Tilly's rolled eyes as she scooped them up from the floor and stuck them behind the foliage of the plant to hide them from any curious questions about the two plastic figures from different eras stuck together in such an interesting way.


	2. The Buck List

Jedediah grabbed Octavius by the hand and pulled him to where he'd set up his work space on the Docent's desk. He had a huge piece of paper with the Museum's logo stuck on the bottom, and an enormous pencil that had taken him an hour to sharpen, rolling the big box sharpener in his hands around and around the tip.

"We got work to do," he said, hefting the pencil into his arms.

"I'm not good with sums. Ask Galileo."

"This here ain't about sums. This here is a Buck List."

"A what?" Octavius blinked in confusion.

"A Buck List. Gigantor told us about it? You make a lit of everything you want to do before you die."

Understanding dawned. "I believe he called it a Bucket List."

"Buck, bucket, who cares? We're making a list. We got three months left to live. Time to carpe our diem!"

Octavius's mouth twisted into a smile. "Did you just speak Latin?"

"Maybe," Jed said with a grin. "It's something Teddy taught me. Seize the day, or the night in our case. You and I are gonna write down everything we want to do before Ahkmenrah and his tablet move on without us. Then we're going to do every darn thing on the list."

Octavius leaned back in thought. "Write down 'kissing' for the first item."

"I ain't writing 'kissing' for any item."

"But it's something I wish to do before we perish."

Jed made a face. "And we will. We don't need to write it down, though."

"What if we forget?"

"We won't for--- Fine." Jed wrote: _Kissing_ at the top of the list. "There, happy?"

"Yes, thank you." He kissed Jed on the cheek. "Now you can cross it off."

With bad grace, Jed swung the pencil to put a line through the word. "I don't think you're getting into the spirit of the Buck List."

"Bucket. I'm sure it's a Bucket List."

"Whatever!"

* * *

The first thing Octavius wanted to do (after making Jed write "kissing" twice more, only to cross it out again) was learn how to swim. Jedediah knew he'd never seen a river before, but he knew in his heart that the cowpoke he might've been spent loads of time splashing around in a lake back home. "There's a painting on level two in the fields and prairies section that'll be perfect," he told Octavius. The issue arose of how they were going to get themselves all the way up there on the wall.

They both stared for a while. Jed thought he might talk one of the giraffes into letting them climb up. Octavius said, "We could ask Tilly for a hand."

"I ain't asking for help!"

"Fine. Perhaps a contraption of some kind? Something with levers or wings?"

The giraffe was a no-go. The 'contraption' wasn't a bad thought. "We could do a pulley or something."

"Yes. We would only need to attach it to the ceiling first." They both stared up. If the painting was too high to reach, the ceiling may as well have been on Mars. That gave him an idea.

If it felt weird being held by a giant human, getting carried up by a constellation was stranger than a two-headed politician. Dizziness threatened to overtake him as they swayed and jumped through the air before Orion popped them into the painting.

"Amazing!" said Octavius, as they both appeared like heavy brushstrokes. Jed's hand looked like a thick peach blob, even as he wriggled his fingers at himself.

The pond was close by. Painted grasses whipped at their legs as they walked. A thin wind blew through the field, ruffling the mane on the horse in the forefront of the painting. Jed whistled at the sweet young bay, and it whickered back at him, nuzzling into his palm as he patted the fine neck. "Aren't you a beauty?"

"A fine steed," said Octavius. "Did you bring us here to ride?"

"Nah. I brought us here to swim. Get on now," he said to the horse, and something jumped in his heart as the bay ran off through the field, tail flashing in the light from a sun they couldn't see. He led Octavius to the lake and pulled off his boots. "Toes first. You gotta get used to the water." A few chilly splashes later, and his feet told him the water was fine. "We can probably, what the hell?"

Octavius had stripped naked while Jed had been testing the water. Jed got an eyeful of nude Roman just before Octavius gave a battle cry and ran into the water up to his chest. His eyes got huge. "That's a bit cold."

"I said to put your toes in first, not your, uh, everything." Water was supposed to be blue. Everybody knew that. Inside the painting, the blue hung at the top of the lake like an unhealthy slick coating. It covered Octavius's naked butt from Jed's eyes, among other things. It didn't hide the goosebumps breaking out over his skin, which only served to highlight the shape of his pecs and his biceps. For a poncy Roman, Octavius was put together pretty nicely. Jed coughed.

"Best to get used to it all at once, like we did in the baths. Rome had the finest bathhouses in the world."

"You ain't never taken a bath."

"And yet, I remember." He sunk into the water up to his neck. "What do I do next? There should be some arm and leg motions involved."

"Yeah." Jed looked around himself dully, but it wasn't as though the museum gift shop carried dinosaur-print swim trunks in their size. He pulled off his shirt, and aware that Octavius was watching, pulled off his pants. The water got colder as he stepped in, and got real cold as soon as it reached his hammer and tongs. He yipped, then scowled at Octavius's smirk. "It's cold!"

"I already don't notice. All at once, like I said."

Jed fought back shivers. "You want to learn to do this or not?"

"I'm ready when you are."

"First off, put your head under and blow some bubbles. You can't be scared of getting your face wet."

"Jedediah, I am a Roman General. I do not fear getting my face wet!"

"Then put it into the water."

Octavius looked down at the sickly blue. Then he bent his knees and submerged, coming up a moment later sputtering and wiping his eyes. "That's awful!"

"Hold your breath next time!"

"You didn't say that!"

"I'm saying it now!"

"Fine, I put my head under. What now?"

Jed stepped in deeper. The lake bed was silty and squishy under his toes, and he shivered again as the water moved up his body. He kicked off from the bottom and swam with long strokes, kicking his legs to keep himself afloat. Another Jedediah had done this before. He knew it. He paused when he reached Octavius and put his feet back on the ground. "Like that."

Octavius nodded, and pushed off with his feet. As he flailed out with his arms, he submerged entirely underwater, kicking himself back up with oily blue streaming off his face as he coughed.

"You gotta do everything together." There was nothing for it. "I'll hold you while you try." He stepped next to him, and guided Octavius's chest against his arms as they lay him in the water. "Now kick." Large kicks sent blue splashing everywhere. "And reach with your arms. Start slow." His chest tilted back and forth in Jed's grip as Octavius moved his arms slowly out to catch the water in large strokes. "That's good. Now go faster."

They must be making quite a spectacle, Jed thought. Octavius was splashing more than he was swimming, and Jed held him tight on the chest and stomach, aware of his own nakedness and how warm the man in his arms felt.

"I'm gonna let go now." Jed dropped his arms. Octavius sank into the water, and pulled himself up again kicking. His face was wet and his eyes were shut tight, but he was moving along and not drowning. "Hey, you got it!"

He wasn't great at it, making a huge blue mess everywhere, but it counted as swimming. Jed kicked off and swam beside him, offering encouragement and motions to model. They splashed around the lake for over an hour, finally stepping out for a rest. The horse had returned from its run, grazing close by in the bright, sunless day as Jed watched. He'd stopped caring about being naked and was instead enjoying the day and the company and the interesting way the not-light played on the brushstrokes making up their bodies. Octavius was hairier than he'd expected under his armor and everything, picked out in fine strokes by the artist's brush.

"I know what's on my Buck List next," Jed said, closing his eyes and laying back in the grass with his hands under his head.

"Is it 'kissing?' Because we should write that one down again."

"We are not writing that down again. Let's call that permanently on the list."

"Fine. While we're here---"

Jed let out a disgusted moan, but he was only playing and he saw the amusement on Octavius's face as he rolled over and kissed him. It was strange, being here naked and kissing, but not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.

He went back to his contemplation of the plain sky. "I want to learn to paint. That's my next Buck."

He heard Octavius go to correct him, then give in with a sigh. "Tomorrow night, then. The gift shop has watercolor books."

"I should write that down." He'd left the page with their list outside the painting. "I should get dressed and do that."

Octavius looked at him with a warm smile. "We have hours left. What's the rush?" He moved closer and kissed him again, and it turned out he was right. They were in no rush at all.

* * *

The gift shop was a treasure trove of interesting things. The toys weren't the same inventory who'd been here three years ago, and were still in the zooming-around-like-toddlers phase of living. Jed had to duck as a stuffed T-rex threw a museum logo ball that light up when it splatted against things at a pterodactyl marionette stuck in place by its strings. Toobs of toy fish and wildlife crawled out of their containers all over the floor. Octavius waded in beside him, brandishing his sword against a hungry-looking plastic tiger. A vulture swooped by and almost stole Jed's hat right off his head!

No wonder the night guards kept this room locked.

They found the book display near the checkout, under a set of keyfob mini Dexters screeching and jeering at them as they swung on their silver chains. There was a selection of paint-by-number titles which Jed perused for a while, climbing around to open the pages.

"Look at this one!" He tugged and yanked his find until he could pull it out, where it dropped to the floor, open. Octavius peered over, his face lighting up. "Wonders of the Natural History Museum" had pages dedicated to several of the displays, including a beautiful landscape spread of the Rome diorama. "Me and the Aztecs got left out," Jed said, turning pages and frowning. "But there's you." The figures in the picture were small, but one distinctly wore the same plumed helmet nodding beside him right now.

"It is a sign from the gods."

"Yeah. $7.99 plus tax." None of them had ever bothered much with paying for things. Doc McPhee had said something just the other night about understanding where the minor thefts in the gift shop must have come from all that time. Together, they dragged the book out, sliding it under the security gate and setting up a work space in the food court away from the snickering onlookers roaming the museum tonight.

Jed decided to start with the picture he'd found. The Romans had figured out a rope and pulley system to operate the drinking fountains. Octavius magnanimously provided him with a whole bucket's worth of water to use. He dripped it onto the dry paints, mixing with the brush. Like the pencil, the huge brush was hard to steer. He got a dob of the peach color and went to paint his favorite Roman's face.

The paint dripped onto the page and spread in a mess. Jed grumbled, trying to fix it with the brush and only succeeded in spreading it further outside the lines. "Ugh." With bad grace, he shoved the brush into the bucket to clean it, then went for some red to do Octavius's cape. He wasn't careful enough, and suddenly his buddy looked like a peach blob with a stomach wound.

Growling, he tried for some gray to paint in the Colosseum and wound up with an even bigger mess.

"I should've started with an easier page. Now it's ruined."

Octavius walked over to inspect the wet paper. "It could be worse."

"How?"

"You could have painted my helmet red and had my face bleeding, too."

Jed glared at him, shoving his brush into the red again and smacking it against the picture. "There."

"See?" said Octavius. "Now it's much worse."

Jed threw down the paint brush in disgust. "I'm never gonna learn this."

"Nonsense. You've barely tried. Also, this is hardly an appropriate canvas for a true artist."

"I ain't no artist." He kicked the book. "I just proved that."

"You will be." He said the words with a calm faith Jedediah didn't share.

"I don't see how."

"First, the canvas." Leaving the book behind, Octavius led him to the guards' break room, where they would not be disturbed.

Jed stared. Someone had set up a real canvas, taller than he was, on the floor propped against the lockers. "Where did you find it?"

"I called in a favor." And no matter how much Jed tried to get him to tell what or who, he didn't say.

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome." Octavius gave him a warm smile. "What are you going to paint?"

"I don't know. I've got this whole canvas! I could paint twenty things on it."

"Start with an apple."

Jed thought about this. "I do have lots of red." Octavius helped him carry the tray of paints and the murky rinse water for the brush into the guard room. Jedediah got some more red on his brush and drew an awkward circle, painting it in with slow brushes. He rinsed and got some gray for the stem, twisting it up in a little curve that looked really nice. "What do you think?"

"An excellent start. I would eat that apple myself."

Jed wondered if they could wander into the painting, if the tablet's magic would let them. He decided against trying. Sometimes magic was best left untested. "I could try painting you again next."

Octavius grinned. "I would be honored." He sat on the floor and started pulling off his boots.

"What're you doing?"

"Getting ready." His armor and tunic slid off before Jed's astonished eyes. He left the helmet on, and grabbed his sword. "How should I pose?"

Jed sighed, turning back to his canvas and letting himself figure out his spacing. Octavius and an apple. Why not? "Someday you and I gotta figure out why every time we fill out our Buck List, you get naked."

"If you object to the sight of my physique, I can put my clothes back on."

"I ain't objecting. I'm observing. Artists are supposed to observe the world around them." He'd heard that in a YouTube video about some happy trees. Maybe he'd stick in some happy trees behind Octavius and the apple.

More careful this time, Jed mixed the peach-colored paint to a thicker consistency than last time. Now when he spread it on the canvas, it stayed put. "Stand over there," he told Octavius. "Hold your sword. I meant your actual pointy sword, sheesh!"

His subject in sight, Jed carefully pulled the brush across the canvas in wide strokes, not as neat as the strokes in the lake painting, but not so bad. Arms, legs, feet, and some more peach for his face. The shape was pretty good. He rinsed and dabbed some silver for the helmet and the sword, using just the tip of his brush as he drew the sword to a point. He got the shiny gold paint wet, leaning in for the delicate work on Octavius's helmet. Not as good, he thought, stepping back.

"Can I see?"

"Not yet. I'm still working." He looked back and forth between Octavius and the canvas. Then he dipped his brush into the brown and the gray both before returning to work. The work of capturing the fine hairs all along his arms and legs was beyond the power of his brush, but Jed's eye picked out the dark hairs under his arms and where his legs joined. For no reason he could or would name, his breath caught as he painted the latter, his eyes darting between the picture and his subject. A little more peach, resting between his legs. Jed's mouth went dry as he worked.

"Dusty in here," he said.

"I hadn't noticed. Are you nearly finished?"

"Almost." He went back to work on the hands, one clasping the hilt of the sword, wrapped around it firmly, and that set Jed coughing again. The fingers on the other hand weren't great, and he was pretty sure he missed the proportions. "All right, come see."

Octavius lowered his arm and padded over. "Fascinating. Why don't I have a face?"

"It's, uh, symbolic. Yeah. It's a commentary on the faceless military presence in modern society." Jed hadn't been sure what the words would be until he let them out of his mouth, but they sounded good. Artistic, even. "I'm gonna put some of them happy trees in the background, too."

Octavius hefted his sword. "I see you have captured the proportions of my sword." He wasn't staring at the picture of his hand.

Jed pretended he didn't know that. "It's a good sword."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Well-shaped. Sturdy. Good length and width."

"Would you like to inspect it more closely?"

Jed took a deep breath. "I think I need to paint some trees." And maybe take another swim in that cold lake, he thought to himself. He felt strange and hot.

"Happy trees it is," said Octavius, and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Let me know if you change your mind. I'm quite talented with my sword, or so I've been told. I could show you."

Jed went back to his paints and got some more brown and gray on his brush. "Write that on the Buck List for tomorrow night." He went back to work, trying not to think about how good Octavius was with his sword.

* * *

Jed woke from the dreams that weren't quite dreams, knowing the place inside his head where he was always himself had been thinking about Octavius all day. He climbed out of his box, trying and failing not to think about handling Octavius and his sword. They'd put it on the Buck List and everything. He breathed into his glove, then smoothed down his hair before placing his hat on his head.

He reached the floor and was instantly surrounded. The legion stood in formation, Octavius stood in front of them in full armor. "Greetings. I decided my men should help."

Jed's jaw dropped. "Help how?"

"Men," said Octavius in a firm voice. "Present your weapons." For one horrifying moment, Jed expected every one of them to drop their clothes, but no, the Romans all drew and brandished their swords in unison.

Right. Swords. Actual swords.

Octavius moved up behind him, taking Jed by the shoulders and moving him into position. Then he placed the hilt of his sword into Jed's hand, wrapping his fingers around the hilt the same way he did. "Grasp it firmly," he said into Jed's ear.

This was the dustiest museum he'd ever seen. "Right," he coughed.

"Romans, advance."

They spent the next several hours in practice. Octavius moved Jed's arms and legs as he saw fit, not asking permission once. Jed wanted to object, but something stopped him. He didn't mind Octavius touching him, not a bit. He found the motions easier to learn as they went through them over and over.

"Are you ready for combat?"

"Sure." he reached for his pistols, but of course, they didn't fire, and that wasn't the point. "How do you fight with this thing?"

"Those same steps we went through." Octavius borrowed a sword from his second in command Septimus. Jed tried not to show the sudden hot flash that went through him, seeing Octavius handle another man's sword. His friend stood opposite him and ordered his men to break into pairs the same way.

"Attack, parry, block, riposte." The swords clattered against each other as the Hall of Miniatures filled with the sounds of swordplay.

"You're pretty good at this."

"I told you."

* * *

The food court contained vending machines with treats of all kinds. None of them had to eat, which was lucky or ol' Dexter and half his pals would have been a snack for the lions years ago. Sometimes they liked to taste, though. The Moai had a fixation on gum, which Jed supposed was the best a giant head could hope for.

He stared up at the candy machine. "You sure about this?"

"We have been diligently collecting change for weeks. I am sure." The tourists who roamed the museum by day dropped nickels and dimes in the gift shop pretty often, and once, a quarter had rolled under the squish-a-penny machine. They'd saved up enough for a bar. Now they had to choose.

"I like the sound of Payday," Jed said.

"I've seen those nuts. I don't think we could eat them." His eyes flashed. "We could eat Mr. Good Bar."

Jed squinted. "More peanuts."

"Pity." They read off the names of the various candies. Jed's mouth watered thinking about them getting a pack of those M&Ms, munching on big, colorful chocolate patties, stuffing them in their pockets as they went about their nights together. Octavius vetoed that one, pointing out how hard the candy shells were.

"Well, we gotta pick something." They'd written this down, and their three months had dwindled down to two weeks. Fourteen nights left to live, before they went back into their boxes forever. "Let's get something nice."

"We'll get a Hershey bar," Octavius declared.

"You're sure? It looks kinda plain." No nuts, no crisped rice like in the Nestle Crisp next to it, no nougat or caramel, and not a single Day-Glo color. Plain milk chocolate. It hardly seemed worth it. "The Twix could be good. There's two of those."

"It's my item on the Bucket List. I want the Hershey bar."

"Fine."

"Bring the scaffold!" Octavius shouted. His men rolled over the Lego scaffold they'd been building in their own shrinking leisure time. Octavius slung the pouch with their money it in over his shoulder and began the long climb up. Jed watched him, nervous, as he carefully hefted each coin into the slot. "What's the number?"

Jed peered up. The M&Ms were at position D6. The Hershey bar was C6. He could accidentally give Octavius the wrong number. But that wasn't playing fair. "C6!"

Octavius swung his weight out and pressed the C button with his foot, then did it again to hit the 6. The machine hummed, shaking the Lego tower. Jed kept his eyes peeled in case of trouble, but Octavius held on as the huge hoop rotated and released the Hershey bar up front.

While Octavius climbed down, Jed used the scaffold to get into range of the drawer, kicking it open before jumping inside, careful to prop it open with Octavius's borrowed sword. In the base of the machine, he found some dead flies and the big package holding their chocolate. Huffing, he shoved it out through the gap, then climbed up and out.

"This better be worth it."

Jed grabbed one side of the wrapper. Octavius grabbed the other. "One. Two. Three. Pull!" The wrapper split in two down the middle, sending up a thick, enticing smell. Maybe Octavius had been right after all.

The bar was printed in twelve smaller versions of itself. They broke off half of it and handed it to the Romans for lending them the scaffold. Then, with a little more effort, they each broke off a bar of their own. Jed sniffed it, enjoying the chocolate smell, then bit in. Sugar exploded in his mouth. "Whoowee, this is some good vittles," he admitted, taking another bite.

Octavius smiled around a mouthful of his own. Chocolate dribbled from the side of his mouth. Jed leaned over and kissed him right there, getting two sweets for the price of one.

"We should probably undress to keep from getting chocolate all over our clothing."

Jed shook his head and sighed, and pulled off his hat.


	3. The End and Everything After

Larry walked through the museum, greeting everyone with a grin. He'd stayed away during the British Treasures exhibit until he'd realized he was punishing himself. These people were his friends, some of the best he'd ever had. There was no way to explain to anyone who hadn't been there.

Tilly's message had been short and clear, and there had been no reason not to come in at night. He shook Teddy's hand, and he hugged Attila (to his own surprise) and greeted Ahkmenrah as a long-lost friend. Even Laaa was less annoying than before. This was home in a way most places had never been, which meant this conversation was going to be even harder.

He went into Dr. McPhee's office and shut the door. Tilly and McPhee were already inside. Larry took a look around the room, nodded to himself, then smiled at them.

"Hey," he said. Tilly grinned back nervously. 

"Thanks for coming."

"It's good to see you," said McPhee. "You should have told me, about all of." He waved at the door, and the amazing sights beyond. "You know."

"I know. It wasn't exactly my secret to tell before. It was theirs." He turned and looked at the door. "I was their guard. I kept them safe."

Tilly said, "They've said thanks. Once they understand, the exhibits are all good about it."

McPhee said, "I imagine they're excited about the party. Larry, we're planning something very special for their last night."

"I can't wait. But, I don't know if it'll be the last night for all of them."

"Well, no. The British exhibits will be taking the tablet. They'll enjoy life in Cleveland, and around the world before they go home to London."

"London isn't home for all of them," said Tilly. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about."

McPhee looked between them. "We?"

Larry said, "A museum is made half of simulations of things that used to be, like President Roosevelt, and half of things that came from somewhere else, like Ahkmenrah and the T-rex."

Tilly said, "The British Museum has a lot of treasures that came from around the world. Some of them came with us. Some of them want to go home. I've convinced the Curator to let us repatriate some of the artifacts as a show of goodwill towards the countries they were taken from. We're going to Sydney, and Hong Kong, and Mumbai, and Cairo, and Rome. We're leaving the artifacts who want to stay back at their homes."

Larry said, "Some of the folks here want to join them."

"What? No! Out of the question."

"It would be another show of good will and fantastic PR," said Tilly. "They want to go home."

"Want? Want?" McPhee let out a nearly hysterical chuckle. "They are artifacts. Displays. The magic is truly," he hesitated, "magical. But they're not real. They can't want things."

"Wanna bet?" Larry said. "I could tell you stories. When I got here, all Teddy wanted to do was talk to Sacagawea. The Easter Island head wanted gum. The cavemen? Fire. Attila wanted a hug." He sighed. "Even these two little idiots eavesdropping want something."

McPhee looked around. "What?"

Larry bent down. Sure enough, he'd seen the red of a little cape hidden among the leaves of McPhee's potted plant. "Come on out, guys." He heard whispering and shushing. He dug through the leaves, hoping they weren't naked. "I know you're there."

"How'd you know?" asked Jedediah.

"I have magic powers."

"No, you don't," Octavius said patiently. "You tried that on Attila."

"Just get out here."

Reluctantly. Jed and Octavius climbed out of the plant. "We weren't dropping no eaves," said Jed. "Not our fault y'all came in to our private office."

"This is my private office," said McPhee. "Not yours."

Larry said, "These two made a Bucket List, and they've been going through it." He looked at Jed. "Tilly told me."

Octavius said, "I told you it was a Bucket List." Jed shushed him. "I did tell you." Another shush. "I said, it's 'Bucket List,' not 'Buck List.'"

"Fine, you was right. Now hush!"

"Guys, did you bring your list?"

Jed reached into the little carrier bag and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. He handed it over to Larry, who took it and unfolded it, looking at everything they'd written, and everything they'd crossed off so far. He looked down at them. "You've only got two nights left. There's still a lot on here."

Octavius said, "The honor is in the pursuit of the goal."

Jed said, "We got time."

Larry handed the paper to McPhee, who looked at the tiny figures, then at their much-folded paper. His lips moved as he read. Larry watched his eyes as he read the various "kissing" written down the list and dutifully crossed off each time. He looked at the two little men. "You've done all this?"

"Just the stuff we crossed off."

"Why?"

They looked at each other, then up at him. Octavius said, like he was explaining to a small child, "We had three months to experience everything we could. We didn't want to miss anything."

"Anyway, we ain't done yet. Can we have that back?"

"Of course." McPhee bent down and returned the list to them. "You wanted to do these things?" They nodded. He looked up at Larry and Tilly. "How?"

Larry remembered a line from one of the novels he taught. "All things strive. They're alive, Doc. It might not be what we all thought life meant before, but it's life. They deserve the chance to decide their own fates."

There was more, a lot more. Tilly had a list of her own, the names of the New York displays who'd come to her, and of course she wanted to take Laaa with her. "Part of the traveling exhibits from New York, joining us around America and then the world."

Larry realized after a while they'd been ignoring Jed and Octavius, but when he went to apologize, they weren't anywhere to be seen. Oh well. He'd have to catch up with them at the party.

* * *

The party had started a few nights early. Everyone had things they wanted to get done before the last dawn of their lives. Jed felt the weight of the list folded up in the bag. He'd done so many things over the last few months, and every night, they found more wishes to add. Even now, Octavius seemed lost in his own head.

"What're you thinking about, amigo?"

"The traveling exhibit is going to Rome."

"I heard. And dropping people off everywhere. Not Akhmenrah, though. He says he wants to go back to London to be with his mom and dad." He tried to picture choosing to go to some strange museum and staying there forever. Gave him the willies!

"I'd love to go home to Rome," Octavius said.

"You're not from Rome. You're from Taiwan, same as me."

"I know. But Rome is in my heart. I'd love to see it, just once."

"Yeah," said Jed, thinking of Texas. "So, we got two nights left to ourselves, and about twenty things left on the Bucket List." He enunciated the word "bucket" with great delicacy. "We gotta narrow things down."

"Did we put 'kissing' back on the list?"

"I told you, I'm not writing that down again. You want to kiss, you just say the word."

"What word?"

Jed groaned in annoyance, grabbed Octavius by the arms, and kissed him hard. "You are the most exasperating man I have ever met."

"It's good to know I made some superlative for you."

"So what should we do? I don't have time to learn another language. You don't have time to learn computer programming. How should we spend our last few nights on Earth?"

Octavius stopped and folded his arms, and he waited. Jed stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"We talked about it."

Jed knew exactly what he was thinking. It sounded fun. It also sounded weird and messy. "We did. I'm not sure how it's even going to work."

"It worked for Tilly and Laaa. You remember how we found them."

"Yeah, and if I try very hard, I might make myself forget someday." Two giant mountains of flesh grappling on the cafeteria floor. Jed shuddered. "You really want to try that?"

"Not exactly that. I looked up videos online. I believe I have the basic idea."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

* * *

Jed could hear the bass thumping from the main entrance hall. In here, there was nothing but stars. Some of the more coltish constellations had had to sparkle up the night elsewhere, but stars were ancient things, most of them sedate in their paths, and these were content to glitter high above them as they lay side by side.

"Seriously, all your Bucket List ideas get us naked. How did you manage that?"

"Planning," Octavius said in a sleepy, satisfied voice. Those videos he'd watched had been very helpful. Jed hadn't been sure about some parts. Octavius said back in the real Rome, they'd used olive oil, and they had managed to find a bottle of it in the food court. It smelled like a salad, and now so did they both, but it sure had slicked everything up, hadn't it? And the rest had been pretty amazing.

"We should've been doing this every night for the last three months. Heck, we could've been doing this for years!"

"I did try to get you naked and kiss you. It isn't my fault you didn't catch on until tonight."

"You should've just said." His whole body buzzed pleasantly. "I think this was better than the chocolate."

Octavius rolled closer and kissed Jed's bare shoulder. "This would be better with chocolate. Can you picture it? I could melt some over you and lick it all off."

"How come you get to eat all the chocolate? I should get to lick some, too."

"Fair is fair." Octavius closed his eyes. "Pity we couldn't find another quarter or two to try."

"Yeah. Maybe next time the tablet comes to town."

"In fifty years? Who knows what will be in the vending machines then."

Jed looked up at the stars. "Right. Might be space chocolate from Mars by then."

"Jedediah?"

"Hm?"

Octavius went quiet for a long moment. "Emotions are not my forte. I would sooner fight a herd of elephants rampaging over the Alps than sort out affairs of the heart."

"Amen to that. Bring on the elephants."

"Tell me you understand how I feel about you." He'd propped his head up on one arm, watching Jed's face in the starlight.

Jed watched him back, thinking. He didn't have to think hard. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"You don't have to. You can go on fighting your elephants, or your iron horse, or what have you. I don't need you to feel the same."

"I love you, too." The words were easy here under the lights. It was like the whole sky was overhead, and the world was just big enough for them both.

"Oh. Good." Octavius looked lost, his eyes darting away to the stars above them instead of to Jed.

"Now don't you go taking it back just because I said it," Jed said, a little testily.

"I wouldn't dream of it, beloved."

Jed frowned. "That's a weird nickname."

"You call me 'Laredo.' You don't get to call anything weird."

"You're weird," Jed said, but he scooted closer. "I love you because you're weird."

"We're going to use that word a lot?"

"If you reckon tomorrow night is the last night of our lives as 'a lot,' sure." He wished he hadn't said anything as he watched Octavius's face fall. He reached out and pulled him into an embrace. "And now I know exactly what I want to do for my last night on Earth."

"It's painting, isn't it."

Jed snorted and kissed him. Then he pretended he had chocolate with him anyway.

* * *

He woke up surrounded by the usual folks. Everyone was distracted tonight. He'd noticed over the past couple of months how many of the other diorama figurines had made arrangements with others. It occurred to him that ol' Cowboy O'Bannon and Chon Wang had been slipping away together even before their three-year nap, and had probably figured out the whole sex thing ages ago. He could've asked for tips.

Well, too late now. Too late for almost everything. There was supposed to be a rip-roaring shindig tonight, the last night before the British Treasures got packed up and shipped off to Cleveland, and along with them some of the displays here who wanted to go back to their own homes. Eototo the kachina doll had been stolen a century ago, and he'd told Jed he planned to stay in Dallas once the traveling exhibit got there nine months or so from now. Jed didn't want to stay in Dallas, but boy, he wanted to see Texas, just once.

As he climbed down from the box for the last time, he thought and he thought. He looked up at the diorama that had been his only home for his entire existence. He thought about the train, and his pals, and he thought about the way Octavius had looked under the stars.

"Howdy," he said as soon as he saw his favorite person in the whole dadgum world.

"Good evening, my love." Octavius bowed low. He'd polished up his armor and tidied his silly red plume, making Jed wish he'd cleaned himself up a bit more.

"You look great."

"Shall we head to the festival together?" He held out his arm.

Jed took his hand instead. "No, I want to talk."

"Fine. I like talking. But I should tell you, Larry said he would bring cheese dip."

Jed's eyes lit up. "I do love that man's cheese dip. But this is important." He led Octavius off to a private corner of the room. "I got the list with me."

"I wish we had time to accomplish more on it."

"Maybe we do." Jed pulled out the paper and unfolded it, then took out the stub of pencil. He waited for Octavius to look at him. Then he wrote: _Visit Texas._ On the next line, he wrote: _Visit Rome._

Then he stood back, and waited, and hoped.

"I don't understand."

"They're boxing everything up in the morning. Everybody who's going is gonna be on a truck by the afternoon." He took Octavius's hand again, and squeezed. "We could go. Pop ourselves into one of the boxes tonight, and ship ourselves to Cleveland with everyone else, the same as we went to London. We could travel with the traveling exhibit, and see the whole world. Just you and me."

Octavius looked at him, a mix of fear and longing on his face. "Leave New York? For good?"

"Tilly or someone will bring the tablet back here someday. And if we really want to come back, she could stick us in an envelope from Bangladesh or wherever."

Octavius sent a glance to his own diorama. "I couldn't abandon my men."

"After tonight, they're going to be plastic. Safe, educational, and completely unaware that you're gone. They don't need us, Octavius. We can go. See the world. See Rome. And stay together."

"Can I think about it?"

Jed hid his disappointment. He'd assumed Octavius would pounce on the chance as soon as Jed brought it up. "Sure, I guess, but we only have tonight to decide, and it's gonna take a while to get into those crates."

"I understand. This is a big decision. This," he gestured around the Hall of Miniatures, "has been my home since I first came alive."

"Yeah, I know. Same here." He couldn't stop the frown.

Octavius took the bag and kissed his cheek. "You go to the party. I need to stay here for a while."

Jed put on a happy face for everybody. Last night on Earth, time to cut a rug. But his heart wasn't quite in it. He knew where he wanted to go now, and what he wanted to do, and who he wanted to do that with. But if Octavius was too scared to go, then this was the end of everything forever. A little forlornly, he watched the dinos play together one more time, and the Civil War dummies played leapfrog, and who knew where Teddy and Sacagawea had gotten off to? He and Octavius could be under the stars now, and having a better time than this. Even the cheese dip wasn't very good.

As he sat on the Docent's desk, he was aware of another form approaching him. Octavius had the bag slung over his shoulder. It bulged weirdly.

Jed's eyes narrowed. "Did you get more olive oil?"

"A little yes," Octavius admitted. "But I also packed a fresh sheet of paper, and a new pencil. I couldn't fit that canvas in here. We'll have to leave it behind."

"You packed?" His face lit up. "You mean it?"

Octavius nodded. "I thought about things, but it didn't take long. The men won't need me after tonight. This museum has been my home. In the last several years, that has been due to you. You are my home, Jedediah. And I would love to see the world with you."

Jed stood up. "I know exactly where the crates are. You ready?"

Octavius looked out on the faces of their friends. Some were laughing, some embracing, all enjoying one another's company and appreciating the night as though there would never be another. Every night ought to be that way, Jed thought. He hadn't appreciated his nights enough. He swore he'd appreciate every one from now on.

Octavius held out his hand. Jed took it and stood. Hand in hand, they made their way down and across the wide floor, and to the lower level where the shipping crates waited to take them on their next adventure.

* * *

  
  



End file.
